David Lowry Swain (1801-1868) was the youngest son of Caroline Lane and George Swain, a farmer. He
was born in Buncombe County, NC, and educated at Newton Academy in Asheville, NC.
He was admitted to the junior class at the University in 1821 but remained only one week.
Reluctant to spend his parents' scarce resources, he went to Raleigh to read law under
Chief Justice John Louis Taylor, then returned to Asheville in 1823 to begin his law
practice. He married Eleanor White in 1826; they became the parents of three sons, two of
whom died in infancy, and two daughters. Buncombe County voters sent Swain to the NC House
of Commons four times between 1824 and 1829, when the legislature appointed him judge of
the superior court. In 1832 Swain became governor, a role that allowed him to represent
western North Carolina interests; promote internal improvements such as roads, railroads,
and schools; and reform the state's constitution by bringing together in 1835 a coalition
of the state's Whigs and Democrats. Despite his political success, the predominantly
Democratic General Assembly of 1835, the last to elect North Carolina's governor, denied
Swain a fourth one-year term. He became president of the University in 1835, a position he
held until his death in 1868 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 5:483-86). Students referred to Swain as "the Governor"
or as "Old Bunk."